The funny things kids do!

I was recently going through pictures and found this one of Isaias. He definitely has his dad's sense of humor! He came up to me and said, "Look Mommy! I have a milk mustache!"

Creative Correction

This summer I've had the pleasure of having my neice, Juliana, here to play. Juliana and Isaias are like brother and sister, and only 3 years apart. They love each other like you wouldn't believe, and love spending time together. However, you know what most siblings do too, right? Fight. I tried everything I knew, and when I didn't know what to do anymore I asked a friend. She suggested I read "Creative Correction," by Lisa Whelchel. I didn't skip a beat and ran out to buy it. It took me a couple weeks to get time to get around reading it. When I finally did, I got some GREAT ideas!

There was one idea that stuck with me the most, and I've put it into practice. We've been doing this for 3 weeks now and it seems to work well.

I cleaned out some empty spaghetti sauce jars and wrote "Juliana" and "Isaias" on each one. The point is to accumulate coins. Here are some ways they can earn a coin:

1) Doing their chore without being asked (Isaias vaccums the rug & cleans his room & Juli sweeps)

2) Being kind to others and each other 

3) Obeying  

Isaias held the door open for a man a few weeks ago which earned him a coin. Juliana helps watch Lily while I shower or just when we're out and about, so she'll get a coin for that too. They won't earn coins the exact same way, and it looks different for each one. They each have strengths and weaknesses that I'd like to encourage them in. 

There are also a few rules about the coins too that I had to add shortly after:

1) You can't ask for a coin

2) You can't put in a coin unless I say (when they do their chores I have to tell them when they can put one in so it doesn't get mixed up..I have a solution for this...see below!)

3) If you try to cheat and put extra coins in, or take coins out of the other person's jar, you lose ALL your coins. I don't tolerate lying or cheating.

In order to keep it straight when they do their chores since they can't ask for their coin I've come up with a solution! (I did get this idea from the book as well!)

(Juli doesn't come over every day so that's why there are some blank days)

For each chore they complete they get to "punch" their "time card." It's kind of a fun thing for them and they enjoy doing this. I have them on the fridge so I see them throughout the day. When I notice they've punched it, I put my initials by where they've punched it and let them know they can put a coin in. Or if it's late at night, I'll put it in myself. It helps so we don't accidentally put extra coins in or short them any. They've worked hard for those coins! The initials just let us all know we've accounted for those holes punches. 

Now, I must add that they are required to do other things at home too. I don't give Isaias an allowance simply because there are things he is required to do since he's a part of this family. They both have to clean up after themselves when they play, rinse their dishes and put them in the dishwasher, etc. If Isaias wants to earn money though we have some extra things he can do too.

We had set today to go to Chuck-E-Cheese and turn in their coins for tokens. However many tokens they earned is what they got to spend. They ended up with about 30 each over a 3 week period. The kids really enjoyed it, and we even had a coupon and bought a medium pizza for $4.99! They had leftover souvenir cups from prior visits so we only paid about $20 for the trip. I'm pretty frugal!

I haven't decided if I'm going to do this incentive again or if I'll try another one just to switch it up and keep things fresh. I'm leaning towards trying something new! :) I'll let you all know how it turns out!

My kiddies!

Since I don't seem to have much time for blogging I thought I'd share a few recent pictures. :)

He's such a boy!

We were outside spraying dirt out of the back of my Dad's truck and Lily must have been exhausted to fall asleep this way. :)

They're growing too fast!!!

We got those BIG marshmallows from Walmart. I think eating even 1 is too much!

Uh-oh! Isaias got to close to Lily so of course, she started eating his hair! She has a weird hair fetish!

Lily! 8 months

Our attempt at a photo shoot. ha!

Erik's Aunt Leny with the kids. We really love her!

I can hear her screeching "Eeeeee" in this picture!

We have LOTS of silt in our backyard. Isaias has been enjoying playing in it!

I came into the living room to find Lily had dumped out the freshly laundered and folded clothes! Goofball! Good thing there weren't many in there.

I love how she poses her legs like this!

The best time she's eaten solids this week was when I fed her a banana like this. She really loves it. :)

She was on her belly and got up like this. She still isn't crawling. By this time Isaias was crawling and pulling himself up on things and had 3 teeth. Nope, not Lily. She has her own schedule. 

Soccer season is starting in a few weeks along with Isaias beginning kindergarten! I'm sure I'll be blogging more soon!

 

Fideo Recipe

I decided to post another recipe. It's for fideo. It's a mexican side dish consisting of a tomato based soup with pasta.

Please remember as with all recipes you can change it to how your family prefers it. This may not be exactly how Hispanics do it, but it's what our family likes. You can play around with spices or different ingredients. Also, my sister Veronica makes this with fresh tomatoes and blends it. However, I've found tomato sauce tastes so close that I just prefer to use that and save some time. With a 5 year old and 8 month old I don't have lots of free time! Fast and easy is what I typically lean towards!

Ingredients: 

• 1 pkg vermicelli noodles (I find them at Walmart or Dillons in the Mexican food section)
• About 3/4 tsp Adobo (The only location I know for sure where to get this is on East 6th street at a    Mexican store called "El Rodeo." I send my husband in there since he's fluent in Spanish. :)
• About 3 cups water
• 1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
• Canola or vegetable oil

1) Heat your pan over medium heat. Add oil to coat the bottom.
2) Slightly fry your noodles. Takes a couple minutes or so.

3) After the noodles are fried, add your water FIRST. I've learned the hard way that you shouldn't add the tomato sauce to a hot pan because it splatters everywhere!
4) Then add your tomato sauce right after the water.
5) Add seasonings, stir, and lower your heat to med-low. Stir every 2-3 minutes.

6) Cook until the noodles are soft. This takes about 10 minutes or so.

Hope your family loves this as much as mine!

To swim or not to swim

We recently bought an 18' round pool for our backyard. We were all SOO excited we could barely wait! Here are some pictures of our swimming fun!

 My niece Juliana doing a backflip

 Lily really enjoyed her inflatable toy!

 Erik was helping Isaias with a backflip.

 "Auntie Em" and Lily

She loves her Daddy!

We've all had a lot of fun swimming in the pool, and started inviting people over to swim. On Tuesday I went outside with the kids to let them swim and I was checking over the pool. I noticed a pretty big problem. When we had originally started filling up the pool we noticed it was a bit uneven. It wasn't until it was too late in filling it up that we realized how uneven it was. There was about an 8" difference on either ends of the pool. Erik had used a jack to straighten out the frame a couple days before and seemed to work. However, now, one side was buckling under the pressure. The frame was tilting so much that we were afraid the whole thing would collapse. 

That evening we were forced to empty the pool. I wanted to cry. 6000 gallons of water, chemicals, and fun down the drain. Literally. All because we didn't take the time to get the foundation leveled and done correctly. We honestly thought the ground looked even though.

I kept googling and researching how to level a yard. All I kept thinking about is how important a good foundation is. That's what God wants with us. We have to build our relationship and lives with Him on a good foundation. If we live our lives without God we can try to fix things, but ultimately the foundation isn't solid and leveled, and we'll buckle under the pressure. We just CAN'T live life without God and His plan. The Bible says:

....in this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. 

John 16:33

We will have have troubles, but with God he makes it more bearable. We have Him to lean on.

It's a good thing we can drain the pool, and start over. Will it cost us more money for water? Yes, it sure will. God is the same way though. We can start over and have a new beginning because of His grace and mercy.

I felt as if I had a weight lifted off of me as God began to reveal His message to me. One of the reasons I love blogging is because it's like journaling to me and God reveals things to me as I'm blogging. :)

Or, to put it another way, you are God's house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior material, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn't your part of the building will be torn out; you'll survive-but just barely.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15

Our family loves God very much. We try to live a life that is pleasing to God. I'm not at all saying we haven't built our lives on a good foundation. However, it's nice to be reminded of things and what happens when you don't live for God. It empowers me to bring others to Christ. 

Meatball Sandwiches

So I'm pretty sure lots of Moms go through the same thing as I do about what to have for dinner. I'm always looking for new recipes that my family likes and that are quick. My son is pretty picky about what he likes for dinner. However, he loves meatball sandwiches and even requested them for his birthday.

Meatball Sandwiches:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
1/4 - 1/3 c milk
1/4 - 1/3 c Italian bread crumbs
2-3 tsp minced garlic
1/4 c chopped onion
1 tsp salt
Bread

1) Heat oven to 375.
2) Beat egg & milk.
3) Add bread crumbs to egg and milk. Mix and let sit until the milk absorbs into bread crumbs. (just a couple minutes)
4) Add garlic, onion & salt. Mix well.
5) Add hamburger and mix well.
6) Shape into about 12-15 meatballs.
7) Bake for approximately 20 minutes depending on the size of your meatballs. I use a meat thermometer to make sure they're fully cooked.
8) After they're done, I take them off the pan and place them in a sauce pan with a jar of spaghetti sauce and heat through.

Then just serve on any type of bread you'd like. Enjoy!

Taste and see that the Lord is good. 

Psalm 34:8

Hide & Seek

This morning Isaias and I were eating breakfast together at the table. This was our conversation:
Isaias: "Does God see all our parts?"
Me: "Well, God sees everything and knows what you're doing all the time. You can't hide from God."
Isaias: "Except when you're playing, right? Like when I hide from Daddy?"

Haha! And just what do you say to that? I love getting a glimpse of what goes on in his mind and how he thinks. :-)